Next generation Arduino manufacturing problems?

[The Moogle] just got his new Arduino Uno; wow, that was fast. What should have been a happy unboxing turned sour when he took a close look at the board. It seems that it exhibits several examples of sloppy fabrication. The the lower-left image shows unclean board routing, a discolored edge, and a sharp tooth sticking out from the corner. The shield header shown in the upper left is not flush with the board, resulting in a weaker physical union and a crooked connection. There are vias that look like they’re not be centered in the solder mask, and areas where raw copper is exposed.

It saddens us to see this because the original Arduino boards were so well manufactured. Keep in mind that this may be an isolated case, and as of yet the company hasn’t been given the chance to swap out the board for one that has passed a more rigorous quality control inspection. But if you’ve already ordered one of your own, take a close look and make sure you’re satisfied with it upon arrival.

Update #2: [Massimo Banzi], one of the founders of Arduino, took the time to comment on this post. It details the organization’s willingness to remedy situations like [The Moogle] encountered and also links to the recent Arduino blog post.

119 thoughts on “Next generation Arduino manufacturing problems?”

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How about the fact that they’re so hell bent for leather to use everything AVR that it shows up as a ttyACM device in linux (the source of a lot of the problems with the launchpad). You’d think somebody would have tested that. Though, c’est la vie.

this sucks i was really excited about the uno. i’ll probably stil end up getting one though.

btw, a few weeks ago i got a duemillonove(sp?) from sparkfun for a project and when i unboxed it one of the shild headers was also bent i thought it just got bent during packaging and straightened it out maybe the ne manufactuer is making them too, i never thougt to look at the solder mask, but the edges were clean

The first two issues are minor problems with their board vendor. I’ve been a Engineer in the manufacturing business for years and have seen both of these issues. We would use the boards and provide feedback to the board house. The routing issue is probbly caused by a dull bit. The off center VIAs are actually just a shifted solder mask.

The third issue – the connector not seated needs to be fed back to them because it is their issue.

I don’t know where Hack a Day got the idea that the Arduino boards used to be well made, I personally though they were notoriously bad, as a TA at a university we’ve ordered many Arduinos and although none were sent back for quality, they were all very slap dash.

The headers were often bent, the IC would sometimes clearly have been put in at a cock-eye angle, we’ve had the USB metal housing fall off too.

Overall they work but they are clearly not what I would consider well made, especially with the aforementioned rough edges.

“can someone tell me what happens if the copper is left exposed? i’ve made PCBs and never tinned the traces. they work fine, but I now worry about their longevity.”
See this other post by moogle:http://wtfmoogle.com/?p=1455

If they connect to another metal they can corrode. Over time they will probably go green also.

They wont corrode and they won’t go green. If anything the copper will turn dark just like a penny does and it wont hurt a thing.

These boards like all other moderb boards are manufactured with solder mask over bare copper. It is common to have some bare copper somewhere on a board and as long as the copper does not cause a solder bridge it’s a non-issue.

Honestly if just the headers were messed up thats one thing. But there are so many inconsistencies.

When you think about it the most important thing that makes an arduino an arduino (aside from the bootloader) is the headers. This product is aimed at newbies. And yet the one thing that makes it what it is (the headers to attach other things) didnt get a second glance at the shop.

This is like a handicapped convention on the third floor with no elevator.

Exactly which of the listed nonproblems affect LED blinking, or anything else done with Arduinos? Does a misaligned via hole really hurt you that much, seriously? Splinters? Hell, better not turn on that soldering iron, someone might get hurt.

“These boards like all other moderb boards are manufactured with solder mask over bare copper. It is common to have some bare copper somewhere on a board and as long as the copper does not cause a solder bridge it’s a non-issue.”

What about the exposed copper on home brew PCB’s which won’t have the solder mask?

I definitely agree that Arduino’s quality control has always left something to be desired. My Arduino Diecimila arrived with no solder at all on one of the header connections. I thought these things were wave soldered?

@mowcius: It’s not that nobody wants crap boards, just that nobody wants to pay *premium prices* for crap boards. If these were $16 or $18 each, a bunch of cut corners would be justifiable; everyone understands the idea of “built down to a price”.

So wait – are you saying the product is faulty? Does it work as described? Yes? What’s the problem here? So it’s not something you could put in a glass case as an excellent display of good PCB creation, but unless I’m mistaken, code doesn’t really care what the hardware looks like. Maybe take off the geek specs for a second, eh!

@redbeard – running your finger along any PCB is an accident waiting to happen. If you do this on a regular basis you’re bound to get a splinter. Maybe the lesson here is don’t do it?

@svofski
Well if the headers are messed up that DOES effect plugging in the shields it is made to use right? If you actually read the posts, there are links showing how bad the headers are assembled. Yes most of it is cosmetic. But if they are going to do such a piss poor job of putting on the headers and need to save money or time in FAB then ship it with them unattached. The customer already has to rework the board so why not just save the time and effort all together during fab ,,,

Thats right the reason is the arduino is made for nubies . That is why there are headers so the user doesnt need to solder. So assembling the board this poorly defeats the entire purpose of the board.

“Thats right the reason is the arduino is made for nubies . That is why there are headers so the user doesnt need to solder. So assembling the board this poorly defeats the entire purpose of the board.”
Well at least on the mega, the holes are in the wrong place for the headers so you have to bend them to get shields to fit in…

“but unless I’m mistaken, code doesn’t really care what the hardware looks like.”
Pretty much the whole point of these boards is to put shields on them so if you can’t even do that as the headers aren’t right, then the code will care cos it can’t connect to that shield you just purchased :p

Wow, all the people attacking arduino’s (not the quality issue the arduino itself)

Yes, they need to do some serious quality control. But even though I have never used them myself(I make my own AVR based circuits though) they are a good BEGINNER platform, or for someone who doesn’t have the time/knowledge/tools/skills needed to create their own circuits they allow quick prototypes to be made.

I have seen some projects that are way overdo to drop the arduino and move to a custom board, but hey, there is something to be said with sticking with what you know.

It’s nice that this product has encouraged many young people to learn about micro-controllers in a simple to use package.

1000$ laptop is bound to have the same issues, heck at my work we get 1000$ boards in that we are expect to snap apart along a line of drill holes

stuff happens, if you get a funky board contact your seller or the arduino team, dont go making a big ass stink over it (while including problems and photos of a knock off previous gen board mixed in, the smd pads)

I’m the co-founder of Arduino.
We have written a step by step reply to the content of the original post.

If you have received an Arduino board that was not up to par with our usual quality we apologise but that doesn’t represent a general issue with every UNO made.

His reseller offered him a replacement board and even a refund. Every reseller is bound to a contract where they replace faulty boards immediately and no questions asked. please talk to your resellers or directly to us.